Playing The Game
by simply-aly
Summary: <html><head></head>Katherine & Elena get trapped in Klaus's web: Katherine snorts. "And what, you want us to entertain you?" (Elena/Katherine, Klaus)</html>


Tears are falling down Elena's face, distorting the scene in front of her. Her legs feel like rubber and she knows she won't be able to stand for much longer so she lowers herself to the floor and gives into the breakdown she's been holding back. She brings her knees to her chest and tries to block out the image of Stefan with a stake through his heart.

Faintly, she hears Klaus speaking through her sobs. "Take the body out of here," he's saying. "I want to have some alone time with my little doppelgangers."

That he used the plural of doppelganger alerts her to Katherine's presence and, as if her vampire double is reading her mind, she feels a hand encompass her own and move it from its spot holding her knees.

With the loss of one stabilizing hand, the position falls apart and without thinking, Elena curls her legs to the side and leans her head against Katherine's shoulder. It hits her that Katherine has lost Stefan too, and Elena wonders why her double isn't as much of a mess as she is.

She hears footsteps, but with her eyes resolutely closed, she doesn't see Klaus until his shadow has fallen over both her and Katherine.

"Isn't this touching," Klaus says mockingly. "And here I thought you can't stand each other."

Katherine's voice is clear and much colder than she's ever heard it sound before. "When facing a common enemy, we've found that we're stronger together than we are apart."

Elena finds it strange to hear the words she had used to convince Katherine to help her thrown at Klaus like that. She doesn't speak, but she squeezes Katherine's hand in silent support.

Klaus tilts his head to the side slightly. "Well, I'd hate to separate you," he announces. Turning to a vampire previously hidden in the shadows, he continues. "Take my lovely doppelgangers to the Red Room, and be sure to lock the door—we wouldn't want a repeat of past experiences, would we Katerina?"

Katherine, anticipating their exit from this hall, carefully helps Elena to stand. Elena finds it comforting that Katherine's hand never leaves hers.

Elena's legs are shaky, and she can't stop her eyes from wandering to the spot where Stefan's body had been.

Katherine pulls on her arm to force Elena from her reverie. "Don't," she warns, "don't torture yourself like that—it doesn't help and it will not bring him back."

Elena wants to ask what she can do to bring him back, wants to tell her doppelganger that she's allowed to mourn her boyfriend in whichever way she deems appropriate, and Katherine can go to hell for all she cares; but she doesn't. Part of her knows Katherine's right.

Katherine takes the lead, guiding their vampire guide as well as Elena, and Elena wonders how Katherine knows where to go.

"This place is almost an exact replica of Klaus's estate back in England," Katherine answers when Elena asks the question.

On their way down the hall, Katherine points to each ostentatious door and tells her what's inside. "Blue Room, White Room, broom closet, library, hallway leading to formal dining room, master bedroom, drawing room, study, servants entrance, hall leading to the garden, Green Room, Yellow Room, Red Room—our stop."

Their silent guide takes a key and unlocks the door before ushering them inside and relocking the door.

Katherine then proceeds to guide Elena through the sitting area and into the bedroom. "You need to sleep," Katherine advises.

"I'm not tired," Elena protests, shaking her head weakly.

Katherine rolls her eyes and forces Elena to sit down. "You were just involved in what ultimately amounts to a vampire rebellion and, in case you've forgotten, you're still human. You need to rest."

"I'm fine," Elena insists. The truth is, she doesn't want to close her eyes for fear of seeing Stefan's body in her dreams.

Katherine seems to know this. "I'll stay right here."

Neither speaks again, but it's a full hour before Elena surrenders to sleep.

-x-

The weeks pass, and Elena has gone from bad to worse. Locked in the Red Room with Katherine, neither has really had the opportunity to grieve properly, and it shows. Add to that the fact that the door has remained resolutely shut (except for the vampires that bring blood for Katherine and food for Elena) since they were put in her, and it is clear that Elena Gilbert is not quite in the correct frame of mind to deal with company.

Katherine's been taking care of the both of them, ever the strong and composed vampire, and although Elena never says the words, she's grateful.

They're lying in bed one night—not touching, but not avoiding each other either—when the door bursts open and Klaus is standing before them.

"How are my lovely little doppelgangers faring?" he asks mockingly.

Elena tries to hold back tears—he killed Stefan—and Katherine puts a protective arm in front of her human body as a shield.

"It's late, Klaus," Katherine retorts, "we're sleeping. Go away."

The anger on the Original's face is impossible to miss. "You forget, Katerina, you are a guest in my house—not the other way around. And I am bored."

Katherine snorts. "And what, you want us to entertain you?"

Klaus's resulting smile is so sickening, it makes bile rise in Elena's throat. She whimpers.

"Yes, Katerina, that is exactly what I want you to do."

-x-

Klaus turns all the lights on in the elaborately decorated Red bedroom, and positions a chair against the wall opposite that of the bed.

Elena's kneeling next to Katherine on the bed, the silk beneath her familiar and yet so removed from what is comfortable—Elena misses cotton sheets and fuzzy blankets.

Tears are falling down Elena's face, and Katherine watches her silently for a moment. Their foreheads touch and Katherine's whispering to her. "I know you don't want to do this and neither do I, but if you want to survive past this night, we need to play Klaus's sick little game, and we need to make it good."

Elena doesn't know what's going on, but she knows Katherine well enough to guess.

Katherine has a plan.

-x-

Katherine's gentle and takes things slowly. Elena trembles the entire time, but she forces herself to respond to each touch and every kiss. And she doesn't have to fake the breathy moans that escape her mouth when it's not covered by Katherine's.

The silk sheets have been pushed to the end of the bed—Klaus wants to see everything—and neither girl is wearing any nightclothes any longer.

Katherine's hand is teasing Elena's inner thigh, and Elena's mouth is reaching up toward Katherine's.

She's not attracted to her ancestor, she's putting on a show—just as she knows Katherine has asked her to do.

-x-

Suddenly, before she can blink, Damon and Caroline are in the room and there is a stake sticking through Klaus's heart. It won't kill him, but it'll give them time to run.

Katherine is wrapping one of the silk sheets around Elena. "Go with Caroline," she instructs, "get out of here."

Elena wastes no time. She grabs Caroline's hand and races out of the Red Room. In her head, she remembers Katherine's words about which rooms are which and counts the doors until she gets back to the hall where they had been when it all started. The room where Stefan had been killed.

Caroline takes the lead from there, and the two make it out and into the getaway car before any of Klaus's minions can reach them.

"We have to wait for Katherine and Damon," Elena protests when Caroline puts the car in drive.

Caroline just looks at her sadly. "That was not part of the plan."


End file.
